Gaza's Rafah border crossing has reopened but few people get through

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — When the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt finally reopened this week, Palestinian officials heralded it as a “window of hope” after two years of war as a fragile ceasefire deal moves forward.

But that hope has been sidetracked by disagreements over who should be allowed through, hourslong delays and Palestinian travelers' reports of being handcuffed and interrogated by Israeli soldiers.

Far fewer people than expected have crossed in both directions. Restrictions negotiated by Israeli, Egyptian, Palestinian and international officials meant that only 50 people would be allowed to return to Gaza each day and 50 medical patients — along with two companions for each — would be allowed to leave.

But over the first four days of operations, just 36 Palestinians requiring medical care were allowed to leave for Egypt, plus 62 companions, according to United Nations data. Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people in Gaza are seeking to leave for medical care that they say is not available in the war-shattered territory.

Amid confusion around the reopening, the Rafah crossing was closed Friday and Saturday.

The Rafah crossing is a lifeline for Gaza, providing the only link to the outside world not controlled by Israel. Israel seized it in May 2024, though traffic through the crossing was heavily restricted even before that.

Several women who managed to return to Gaza after its reopening recounted to The Associated Press harsh treatment by Israeli authorities and an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab. A European Union mission and Palestinian officials run the border crossing, and Israel has its screening facility some distance away.

Rana al-Louh, anxious to return two years after fleeing to Egypt with her wounded sister, said Israeli screeners asked multiple times why she wanted to go back to Gaza during questioning that lasted more than six hours. She said she was blindfolded and handcuffed, an allegation made by others.

“I told them I returned to Palestine because my husband and kids are there,” al-Louh said. Interrogators told her Gaza belonged to Israel and that “the war would return, that Hamas won’t give up its weapons. I told him I didn’t care, I wanted to return.”

Asked about such reports, Israel's military replied that "no incidents of inappropriate conduct, mistreatment, apprehensions or confiscation of property by the Israeli security establishment are known.”

The Shin Bet intelligence agency and COGAT, the Israeli military body that handles Palestinian civilian affairs and coordinates the crossings, did not respond to questions about the allegations.

The long questioning Wednesday delayed the return to Gaza of al-Louh and others until nearly 2 a.m. Thursday.

Later that day, U.N. human rights officials noted a “consistent pattern of ill-treatment, abuse and humiliation by Israeli military forces.”

“After two years of utter devastation, being able to return to their families and what remains of their homes in safety and dignity is the bare minimum,” Ajith Sunghay, the agency’s human rights chief for the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a statement.

Officials who negotiated the Rafah reopening were clear that the early days of operation would be a pilot. If successful, the number of people crossing could increase.

Challenges quickly emerged. On the first day, Monday, Israeli officials said 71 patients and companions were approved to leave Gaza, with 46 Palestinians approved to enter. Inside Gaza, however, organizers with the World Health Organization were able to arrange transportation for only 12 people that day, so other patients stayed behind, according to a person briefed on the operations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Israeli officials insisted that no Palestinians would be allowed to enter Gaza until all the departures were complete. Then they said that since only 12 people had left Gaza, only 12 could enter, leaving the rest to wait on the Egyptian side of the border overnight, according to the person briefed on the operations.

Crossings picked up on the second day, when 40 people were allowed to leave Gaza and 40 to enter. But delays mounted as many returning travelers had more luggage than set out in the agreement reached by negotiators and items that were forbidden, including cigarettes and water and other liquids like perfume. Each traveler is allowed to carry one mobile phone and a small amount of money if they submit a declaration 24 hours ahead of travel.

Each time a Palestinian was admitted to Egypt, Israeli authorities allowed one more into Gaza, drawing out the process.

The problems continued Wednesday and Thursday, with the numbers allowed to cross declining. The bus carrying Wednesday's returnees from the crossing did not reach its drop-off location in Gaza until 1:40 a.m. Thursday.

Still, some Palestinians said they were grateful to have made the journey.

As Siham Omran’s return to Gaza stretched into early Thursday, she steadied herself with thoughts of her children and husband, whom she had not seen for 20 months. She said she was exhausted, and stunned by Gaza’s devastation.

“This is a journey of suffering. Being away from home is difficult,” she said. “Thank God we have returned to our country, our homes, and our homeland.”

Now she shares a tent with 15 family members, using her blouse for a pillow.

Elhennawy reported from Cairo and Geller from New York. Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Siham Omran, 54, recently returned from Egypt after completing medical treatment, cooks food over a fire beside her tent in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Siham Omran, 54, recently returned from Egypt after completing medical treatment, cooks food over a fire beside her tent in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Rana al-Louh, 45, sits with her granddaughter, Sumaya Abu Suleiman, 3, inside the tent where they live, which had been erected in a schoolyard converted into a shelter in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Siham Omran, 54, recently returned from Egypt after completing her medical treatment, looks at the tents of displaced people next to her that were set up in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry the belongings of relatives arriving in Gaza from Egypt following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, early Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians patients and their relatives gather to board a bus in Khan Younis before they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Like millions of others, Natasha Jacka went stir-crazy during a COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, until it dawned on her that there might be great opportunity in having nowhere to go.

Jacka used the pandemic and the suspension of her studies at an agricultural college to plant her own vineyard at her family home in South Africa. It was a way to fast forward her dream of becoming a winemaker by bringing it, literally, within reach.

Nothing in the wine world moves too fast, though, and it was four years before the first harvest and vintage.

Jacka's debut wines from grapevines she planted, cared for and harvested in the yard of her parents' sea-facing home in Cape Town — also stomping the grapes herself — were greeted with high praise by critics.

What a relief, she said.

“It could have been so much work and if it doesn’t deliver, you know, then you just feel ... I can’t imagine how I'd feel,” Jacka said. “I wasn’t looking at it like, oh this is going to make a fortune or anything like that. This is a labor of love.”

Christian Eedes, the editor of South Africa's respected online wine review publication winemag.co.za, said Jacka's project was “a triumph of hope over good sense” given how difficult it is to produce fine wine and turn a profit from such a small vineyard.

Jacka squeezed 1,400 vines into two blocks in her parents' garden, which had at one time been part of a smallholding. One batch to produce a white blend, the other a syrah red wine varietal. That's a tiny number considering regular wine farms usually have more than 50,000 vines.

“There’s plenty of space in the world for craft and handmade,” Eedes said. “It’s the opposite of mass produced. It’s made with thought and care and typically hard to come by.”

COVID struck at the height of Jacka's ambition. She was 27 and, tired of working for grumpy chefs, had left a job in the restaurant business to study viticulture at an agricultural college in the winemaking town of Stellenbosch, just outside Cape Town.

She was following her passion and full of zest, she said, when the pandemic reduced her world to the boundaries of her parents' home in the Cape Town suburb of Noordhoek. Then, one day, she saw potential there.

“I was actually looking out the window and I thought, imagine if there were vines here,” she said. “It was a small spark.”

That was followed by conversations with her family to get their buy-in, and then a large amount of work.

Jacka needed to clear the ground, procure more than 1,000 vines, and plant each one of them with a tall wooden stake to hold them. Her parents helped, though mom Sonia was soon banned from the planting process after putting one vine in upside down.

There were also curious neighbors to reassure and an unexpected challenge to negotiate from a miniature horse called Spirit that the family keeps on the property. Spirit thought the vines were tasty.

“We lost one or two vines,” Jacka said. “It was hard to make it horse proof as well.”

Now 32 years old, Jacka's Noordhoek project has been the inspiration for a larger winemaking career. Her Alinea line of wines currently includes five others she's produced from grapes sourced from other parts of the region around Cape Town, which has a rich winemaking tradition.

She's still looking forward to the next vintage from her vines in Noordhoek, though, as she continues to play the role of picker, stomper, labeller, sales rep, accountant and delivery truck driver there, she said with a laugh.

Eedes, the wine critic who gave Jacka her first positive reviews, said he's still fascinated by the micro-vineyard that grew out of a COVID lockdown.

“She managed to not be bored, like we all were,” Eedes said. “It’s really just an extraordinary undertaking.”

AP video journalist Neil Shaw contributed to this report.

Natasha Jacka stands with some of her wines in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Neil Shaw)

Natasha Jacka applies wax to wine bottles in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Neil Shaw)

Natasha Jacka pours wine from an oak barrel into a glass using a "wine thief" in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Neil Shaw)

Natasha Jacka, left, and her mother, Sonia Jacka, work in their vineyard in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Neil Shaw)

Natasha Jacka evaluates a glass of wine during the period it matures in oak in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Neil Shaw)